Not sure where to start? Before you panic, use this simple and easy guide to help you prepare for an art exhibition.
Do you need to prepare for your first art show? Whether gallery, coffee shop, art crawl, and more, here's how to prepare:
I’ve been teaching art for over 15 years and have taught every grade, K-12. In those years I have made resources and handouts helpful for the art room, contained classrooms, or homeschool parents. …
I find nautical themed artwork so interesting because there’s a whole load of history that provides a foundation upon which these artworks are based, from the imagery of historic ships and equipment associated with sailing, to the mythical creatures and popular sayings from the sea. There’s also historic ties to some of the visual styles […]
Going to work on how to draw comics! In this first illustration, I show different layouts for comics. Keep it clear and easy to follow! Here is a thread with compositions. a thread 1/7
One of the stars of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, at least as far as social media is concerned, has been South Korean sharpshooter Kim Ye-ji.
First grade artist learned about the life and art of Romero Brito by looking at a slide show and you tube videos about him. Click here for the Romero Britto Slide Show We were inspired by his cats and dogs and created our own pets Britto style. We used patterns and lots of colors! This lesson has been modified from one seen on Pinterest at some point. :)
This worksheet has been designed to accompany a presentation which shows Woodland Style Art, and the art of Norval Morrisseau. Google images and you'll find a lot! I couldn't find any in the public domain that I could use on the worksheet. I show the students a variety of Woodland Style painting...
If you want to preserve something, make it a tradition. Celebrating their relationship, Twitter user @nanatat07 and her mom had been taking biannual selfies for years, but it's the latest one that reduced everyone to tears.
11 art show tips that will help you remove buyer friction, make an impact, and maximize sales at art fairs and festivals.
Hello my lovelies, I’m excited to show you our first lapbook! I found all the components at homeschoolshare.com and I would highly recommend this website. There are LOADS of great lapbooks h…
I’ve been teaching art for over 15 years and have taught every grade, K-12. In those years I have made resources and handouts helpful for the art room, contained classrooms, or homeschool parents. …
Heart pounding, rapid breathing, nightmares...yep, it's that time of year. Back to school...dun dun dun. Okay I actually may be a little dramatic there (ask anyone who knows me, it's not uncommon!). But seriously, every year I feel like this. The anxiety of the unknown plus the excitement of getting back into the classroom and teaching. I think that when I get to the point in my career that I don't feel like this it will be a sign to quit teaching. There are many things that I worry about before the school year starts. Will the dynamic in my room be good, will I be able to meet the needs of all of my students, will I be nice even on my grumpy days, will they like me, will the parents be nice, will I have my materials prepared, what if I mess up? The list goes on and on. It probably explains why I am a little tiny bit type-A about prepping my classroom (if you haven't noticed). What I can control now makes me feel a little better. In reality all of it is out of my control. I try to remember that my students are feeling just as anxious, and that it's okay. My hubs is losing his 'summer wife' and I know the house is going to be kind of a wreck until our first long break, but it's worth it. To add to the unknown I am getting an intern this year (woo hoo!). We start training together tomorrow and I'm really excited. For those of you who are not PA teachers, the preservice teachers had to choose pre k-4 or 4-8 for their certification. Kind of interesting and most likely not going to last, but in the meantime it means that 5th and 6th grade openings will be filled easier for the kids who chose 4-8th for their certification. So, as I count down my last few hours of summer, here are a few pins that I found inspiring as I began planning for this school year, and a fun purchase that I made to use in my room this year. Enjoy! Me By the Numbers - will be doing this on the first day of math with the kids. I think it'll be great for the cover of their binders! I'm going to try to add this in on the first day of school with my homeroom. I'll have them color a larger popsicle stick then put them in a shadow box to display with a team work inspired quote. I love owls, and this is just too cute. And finally, my new purchase! A doc cam! I'm so excited, this little guy has great reviews and was less than $100. Very affordable on a teacher budget. Amazon has it - the IPEVO Point 2 View USB camera.
Ween will reunite for a series of shows next year. Their first confirmed performances will take place at Broomfield, CO’s 1stBank Center on February 12
Drawing mountains can be so easy if you know the right technique. I'll show you how to draw impressive mountains in just a few steps.
Kit Includes · Limited H.S coded package · Instruction Card · Indivisual Semipermanent Tattoo · Alchohol Pad · Wet Tissue Applying Tutorial Note: It is normal for the tattoo to be a light shade when it is first applied to your body. Normally it takes 24-36 hours for the stickers to show the final result. Keys to g
First Grade art students are studying the art of Vincent Van Gogh. We looked at many of his paintings and discussed his unique brush str...
Audrey Kawasaki just released some in-progress teaser pics of her preparing for her first solo show at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in NY this coming
These empathy activities for kids foster empathy as a social emotional skill in children. Use the empathy beads to build this skill.
Scott Pilgrim is back — this time in anime form! On Wednesday, Netflix released the first official teaser for its upcoming series Scott Pil...
How to dye pasta to make colorful pasta crafts or a pretty maccaroni necklace. It is quick and EASY to color pasta at home!
If you’ve been following along for a while, you may remember this post, but I’ve been getting a lot of French seam questions lately so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to resurrect this tutorial from the blog archives and set it free a second time. I’m first going to do a run through of the french seam and then will show you how to apply it to the armhole. Just a few notes before we begin… 1. french seams are usually best used on light to medium weight fabric. 2. French seams require you to split your seam allowance in two parts. This tutorial is done using a 1/2″ seam allowance, but if you are working with a 5/8″ seam allowance, sew the first seam at 3/8″ and the second at 1/4″. I’ve tried to notate where this applies. With that, lets get to it! Click through to view the tutorial. French Seams on Straight Seams Step 1 | Cut your pieces from your fabric. I only made a half top for this so photographing would be easier, but yours will look normal of course. Step 2 | Sew the sides and shoulder seams with the wrong sides of the fabric together at 1/4″ (or 3/8″ if you have a 5/8″ seam allowance) and press the seam open. I like to do all of the seams at once instead of completing one seam at a time because you are much less likely to end up with one seam backwards. Step 3 | Grade your seam allowance down to 1/8″. Step 4 | Fold and press along the seam so that the right sides are together and stitch at 1/4″. Step 5 | Press both the side seams and shoulder seams towards the back of the garment and this part of the process is over! French Seaming Armholes (and other curved seams) Step 6 | First we will assemble the sleeves, this part is a bit repetitive. Sew the underarm seams with the wrong sides of the fabric together at 1/4″ (or 3/8″ if you have a 5/8″ seam allowance). Step 7 | Press the seam open and grade the seam allowance down to 1/8″. Step 8 | Fold and press along the seam so that the right sides are together and stitch at 1/4″. Press seam towards back of sleeve. Step 9 | Sew a line of gathering threads from the front notch to the back notches. Step 10 | Pin your sleeve and armhole together with wrong sides facing. Begin by matching the underarm seams and notches. Step 11 | Pull on your gathering stitches to ease the sleeve cap into the armhole. Stitch around the seam at 1/4″ (or 3/8″ if you’re working with a 5/8″ seam allowance). After sewing this seam, check for any tucks and remove them if you have any. Step 12 | Press the seam open and grade the seam allowance down to 1/8″. This will be most easily accomplished by cramming a ham or sleeve roll inside your shirt and pressing the seam around that. Step 13 | Fold and press along the seam so that the right sides are together and stitch at 1/4″. Check for any tucks and correct those if you have any. You should now have a french seamed armhole like the one below, congrats! And that’s that! As always if you have any questions leave me a note below and I’ll leave you a reply; I try to respond to all comments. Hope you find this tutorial useful!
Get ready for an engaging and productive start to the school year with our Self Portrait First Day of School Worksheets. These worksheets are designed to spark creativity and self-expression in students, allowing them to delve into their unique identities and share their experiences with their new classmates. Whether you're a teacher looking to facilitate interesting icebreaker activities or a parent wanting to encourage your child's self-confidence, our Self Portrait First Day of School Worksheets are the perfect tools to foster a positive and inclusive classroom atmosphere.
Completed kindergarten masterpieces. That's right, I said kindergarten. The under-6 set is knockin' it outta the park, er, art room so far this year and I couldn't be more thrilled. What I'm about to present to you right here is one Big Fat Hairy kindergarten unit on line. And color. Oh, and shape, sculpture and good craftsmanship, i.e. how-not-to-drive-the-art-teacher-crazy(-er)-by-not-grinding-your-paintbrush-into-the-paper. Because she no like-y. And, in my art room, keeping me sane-ish is at the top of my Learning Targets. Which is way harder than you could ever imagine. Just ask the kids. Do you recall those wild and wacky paintings created on the first days of school in this post? Those large paintings have come in very handy as backdrops for our displays as you can see here. Without getting into all of that, let's chat about the aforementioned Line Unit, shall we? I'm not gonna lie, I do this same ole project with kindergarten at the beginning of every year. Which is unusual for me because with all the other grade levels, I love to change things up. Not so with kinder'town for a coupla reasons: A. they love it; B. it covers a whole batch o' skills/techniques/vocabulary/routines and C. let's be honest, coming up with projects that the little ones can master is not my forte. So when I find something that works, I stick with it. So on our very first day of art, after introducing ourselves to one another and an abbreviated discussion of rules and consequences (because, after all, these kids are five. They still have baby fluff, suck their thumbs and wet their pants routinely. Rules and consequences mean nada. A wicked stare and a "we don't do that in kindergarten" usually does the trick), I like to dive head first into the art-making swimmin' hole. Which means we create our very first sculpture. Now if you're an old warhorse at this art teacher game, this lesson is nothing new to you. You might wanna skip on down to the bottom where I discuss such things as pinwheel portrait painting and bottomless basket weaving (don't worry newbies, they'll be gone a while. I don't even know what that stuff is!). For the rest of ya, lemme tell you how I go about teaching this line sculpture lesson: First of all, we have a little chat about the difference between flat two-dimensional artwork and sculptures. After looking at some images of sculptures, we chat about the ones we are familiar with (ole Lady Liberty almost always comes up) and discuss how a sculpture is something we can see (rotating body at waist for emphasis) all...the way...around. I then tell 'em that we are going to create a sculpture with a bunch of straight lines (strips of paper cut 1" X 9" but sizes can vary). I ask them how to make a flat piece of paper pop out of their sculpture base (aka the bottom paper) to which they usually answer "glue!" It's at this point that I tell 'em that if they want their sculpture to stand, just like us, it must have feet. I demonstrate creating a small fold at the ends of the strip of paper thus creating feet. It's there that glue is applied (to which the strip of paper always responds, "oohh, that tickles my feet! Ohhh, that glue is soo cold!" Yes, the paper talks to us. It's kindergarten, people. They eat this stuff up). Once the glue is applied, I show the kids how to hold the paper in place on the base for about 10 seconds. From there, I demonstrate adding more paper strips to the sculpture base on top, below, behind or beside the first strip. Then I turn the kids loose on their on sculptures. The following art class, I introduce more lines. I demonstrate folding a zigzag line, wrapping a strip of paper around my pencil to create a spiral and creating a loop de loop. I also chat about how lines create shapes and demonstrate creating a circle by gluing one end of the strip to the other. With that circle, so many other shapes can be created with a pinch. Pinch the circle once and you have a teardrop! Pinch it again and you have an ellipse! One more time, it's a triangle! Anther pinch and you have a square. From there, the kids go nuts on their sculptures creating lines, shapes and whatever else they can dream up. Here! Lemme walk you through it. On the third day of art class, I get real serious about the whole line thing. We look at each of these snake-y lines on the poster I created way back in first-year-art-teacher-land and then locate them on works of art. Any ole Kandinsky works great for this. It's at this point I introduce to the kids a lil poem I wrote some years ago about a snake named Larry that can morph his body into any line he likes. It goes a lil sumpin like this (complete with hand motions, you better believe it!): Larry the Line Is a friend of mine (creating a snake by opening the fingers of your hand, puppet style and there's your snake!) He can make three (hold up a three with your fingers) Straight lines for me! Ver-tickle (create a vertical line with your forearm) Diagonal and horizontal! (pantomime each) Any curve, he can learn With a twist and a turn. When he's out of his tangle he makes a great...angle. (created by placing your hand on your hip and pointing to your elbow) Any line, he can make After all, he's a snake! After learning the Larry the Line poem, I bust out this huge cheesey carnival snake I got years ago that happens to have a little rattle in his tail. I convince the kids that he's real (they're kindergarten so they totally buy it) and maneuver him around to create a variety of lines. If the kids guess the name of the line correctly, I let them "rattle" Larry's tail. They eat it up and learn the names of lines to boot. After that, I give a little demo on painting. If you've read this blog for five minutes, you know that when painting, I liken the bristles of the paint brush to a ballerina: It always dances on it's toes, it never scoots around on it's bottom. After I demonstrate painting each of Larry's lines, the kids go to their seats and we do a little guided painting. Meaning, I paint and they follow along. This school year, I have my kindergarten for 45 minutes every six days (which is different than my usual 30 minute classes, twice every six days...confused yet? That makes two of us). That slightly longer block of time makes a world of a difference in that we can accomplish so much! On the fourth day of this unit, we examine Kandinsky again and this time chat about how influenced he was by music. The kids were told that they were going to be painting a nonobjective picture of lines while listening to Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. If you're not familiar, this piece of music introduces each character of Peter and the Wolf with a different instrument. Each character really comes to life with the music and makes for great line paintings. On that day, the children were only given black paint. As they painted to the music, you could see them trying to capture each character in line. Once a painting was finished, I'd take it from them and hand them a new sheet of white paper. By the end of art class, each child had painted about three black and white line pictures. The following art class, I introduced the kids to tempra cakes which you can see best a coupla photos ago. My focus was on using the art materials properly and exploration of color. I wrote about this particular painting lesson pretty extensively last year in this blog post. In that lesson, we didn't paint to music and we focused some on pattern in a follow up lesson. Here's a collection of their finished pieces. I love how wild, bright and unique each one is, just like the artists themselves. On the sixth and final day of this unit, the kids were introduced to Roy G. Biv and watercolor paint. Since the last lesson had just been about exploring with color and proper use of painting supplies, I really wanted to focus on the order of the colors in the rainbow. My hat helped them remember the order (even if it is missing the "B" in Roy G. Biv) as did the large rainbow I have mounted on my easel. And in case you're dying to get a rainbow hat of your own, mine is from amazon. Yes, really. Have you read this book? I picked it up years ago at the thrift store and it's pretty cute. As you turn each page, an additional color of ribbon is added to the ribbon rainbow in the book, hence the "Magic Ribbon Book" label at the bottom. After that chat, I demonstrate to the children how to use watercolor paints. This is an easy transition from the tempra cakes as the cleaning-your-brush-before-getting-another-color is exactly the same. We do chat about the differences between the two mediums (you know, watercolor being more translucent) and also discuss painting in Roy G. Biv order. After that demo, the kids returned to their seats with their paintings created on that third day of art class and rainbow-ize the thing. This is the first year I've added this portion to the line unit and I love the result. And there you have it. One Big Fat Hairy line/shape/color/RoyG.Biv/sculpture/abstract Unit for the wee ones. I know these lessons are nothing new...so I'd love to hear how you approach teaching line. Also, for the sake of space, I may have not answered all of your how-you-teach-that questions, so feel free to email me or leave a comment. I may or may not get back to you. Just sayin'.
